Are You Pro-Life?

Many of you are familiar with Scottie’s Toy Box and know that most of his posts primarily consist of links to various news articles and/or other relevant topics of the day, with a daily sample of political cartoons. However, in his “comments” section. he regularly shares his own thoughts in response to a visitor’s remarks.

Today, I felt what he wrote was quite powerful and encouraged him to turn his comment into a regular post. Regrettably, he declined.

Scottie suffers from intense arthritic pain in his fingers. He notes that some days are better than others … and today happened to be one of the bad ones … so I let him off the hook. However, I felt his remarks were simply too good not to share and decided to copy them here:

How can you rage for the protection of a zygote and call your self pro-life, then be for the death penalty, caging kids at the border, taking away food programs for kids and families, taking away health care for kids and families, taking away education opportunities for kids and families, and refusing to place children in acceptable homes with people who love them if those people do not share your religious views. No way that is pro-life.

In my opinion, he nails it!

Too many “pro-lifers” wave banners and signs and adamantly profess their beliefs related to abortion, yet seem to forget that “life” continues on even after birth.

Along with Scottie, I ask … how can people ignore the needs of children who have been placed in cages simply because their parents happen to be brown? How can they support a president who takes away basic healthcare and food programs in order to build funds for his “wall?” How can they endorse laws that deny children a home simply because the parents are not “Christian?” And the list goes on.

Are we not all human? Why does skin color or religious belief or political leanings play a role in caring for others … particularly children?

We need to stop worrying about the “unborn” and start paying more attention to living children — especially those who are being mistreated and/or being denied even the basic needs of life.

In other words, we need to truly become “pro-life.”

The Effect of Politics on Religion

For many, the post title should probably be reversed. However, I recently came across an article that explains how politics have actually influenced religion.

Three Decades Ago, America Lost Its Religion. Why?

A line from the article:

Religion has lost its halo effect in the past three decades, not because science drove God from the public square, but rather because politics did. 

I think you may also want to read the article linked in the above quote. It goes into more detail on why people’s political ideology is affecting their religious identity.

What do you think? Are politics and religion having a parting of the ways?
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For those who can’t access The Atlantic article, here are some snippets:

Deep into the 20th century, more than nine in 10 Americans said they believed in God and belonged to an organized religion, with the great majority of them calling themselves Christian. That number held steady—through the sexual-revolution ’60s, through the rootless and anxious ’70s, and through the “greed is good” ’80s.

But in the early 1990s, the historical tether between American identity and faith snapped. Religious non-affiliation in the U.S. started to rise—and rise, and rise. By the early 2000s, the share of Americans who said they didn’t associate with any established religion (also known as “nones”) had doubled. By the 2010s, this grab bag of atheists, agnostics, and spiritual dabblers had tripled in size.

[…]

The obvious question … what the hell happened around 1990?

[…]

America’s nonreligious lurch has mostly been the result of three historical events: the association of the Republican Party with the Christian right, the end of the Cold War, and 9/11.

[…]

Meanwhile, during George W. Bush’s presidency, Christianity’s association with unpopular Republican policies drove more young liberals and moderates away from both the party and the Church. New Atheists, such as Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris, became intellectual celebrities …

[…]

A gap has opened up between America’s two political parties. In a twist of fate, the Christian right entered politics to save religion, only to make the Christian-Republican nexus unacceptable to millions of young people—thus accelerating the country’s turn against religion.

[…]

Although it would be wrong to call Democrats a secular party (older black voters are highly religious and dependably vote Democratic), the left today has a higher share of religiously unaffiliated voters than anytime in modern history. At the same time, the average religiosity of white Christian Republicans has gone up.

[…]

American politics is at risk of becoming a war of religiosity versus secularism by proxy, where both sides see the other as a catastrophic political force that must be destroyed at all costs.

Home Sweet Home

A few pictures from our recent RV trip to Washington State …

View of Columbia River from a hilltop winery in Washington.

 

A vineyard at a Hood River, OR winery where we tasted wine and had lunch.

 

The countryside as seen from King Estate winery.

Overall, we had a very nice RV trip, although it was either raining or threatening rain much of the time. 🙁 When I planned the trip, the forecasts had indicated some rain, but mostly sunny. Oh well, the weather guys can’t always get it right.

Our first stop was south of Portland so my other-half could visit with his daughter, who lives in Oregon City. We stayed there for three days, then on to a very nice RV park in White Salmon, WA for four days. We really enjoyed this park EXCEPT for the set of train tracks located just down the hill. Unfortunately, they were used mostly at night!

We did check out the town (and a winery) while at White Salmon and the surrounding area as well, but spent much of our time across the Columbia in Hood River, mostly sightseeing with a bit of shopping. And course — wine-tasting. (Just an FYI for anyone considering a visit to this area … bring plenty of small bills. Bridge tolls are collected on both sides of the river … $2 each way.)

As we headed back home, we stopped for an overnight stay at the Elks Lodge in Salem, then on to the Eugene/Springfield area where we stayed at a very beautiful RV park for two nights. It was while we were in this area that we visited the super elegant King Estate winery with its fine dining restaurant (and primo wines!).

As you’ve probably already figured out, we do enjoy wine 😍🍷🍷🍷 and many of our travels involve visiting the local wineries. Perhaps surprisingly, one of things we also enjoy on these visits is meeting other wine-lovers and sharing tasting notes.

Anyway, we’re settling back into our usual routine but looking forward to next Spring so we can start our travels once again.

Can We Ignore the Truth?

Donald Trump Is Not Well

If your answer is “No, we can not ignore it,” then the next question becomes … is there anything we can do about it?

Of course there is! And it’s summed up in one word … VOTE in the 2020 elections!

As a nation, it is essential that we accept the reality that our current leader has a disordered personality — and it is our democratic duty to ensure this psychologically and morally unfit person does not continue in the role of POTUS.

As the article writer states, “Trump’s psychological impairments are obvious to all who are not willfully blind. On a daily basis we see the president’s chaotic, unstable mind on display.” (Emphasis added)

And then he asks, “Are we supposed to ignore that?”

I think not.

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Image by teeveesee from Pixabay

And Speaking of Hate

From an older (6/29/17) New York Times article by Charles M. Blow. While much of the article content is dated, I believe the following still holds true.

Trump was sent to Washington to strip it of all traces of Obama, to treat the Obama legacy as a historical oddity. Trump’s entire campaign was about undoing what Obama had done.

Indeed, much of what Trump has accomplished — and it hasn’t been much — has been to undo Obama’s accomplishments, like pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Paris climate agreement and reversing an Obama-era rule that helped prevent guns from being purchased by certain mentally ill people.

For Trump, even plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act aren’t so much about creating better policy as they are about dismantling Obama’s legacy. The problem with Obamacare isn’t that it hasn’t borne fruit, but rather that it bears Obama’s name.

For Trump, the mark of being a successful president is the degree to which he can expunge Obama’s presidency.

As Blow says earlier in the article, “The whole world seemed to love Obama — and by extension, held America in high regard — but the world loathes Trump.”

And Trump knows it.

I believe it’s this realization that’s behind many of Trump’s actions. He’s trying so hard to accomplish something that will cause people all over the world to look up to him … to admire him … to respect him. But most of all, he wants to erase Obama’s legacy.

No doubt he’ll keep trying and, contrary to what his supporters believe, We the People will be the ones who will suffer in the long run.

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Visit Psychology Today for a comprehensive article on the emotion of hate.